Many persons spend a large amount of time on the telephone and it is still a common practice for a person to hold the receiver against the shoulder when using the phone so the person's hands are available for writing or typing. Telephone communications headsets have been developed to overcome this problem and are well known in the art. Most of these prior art telephone communications headsets include an over-the-head band designed to be worn over a wearer's head for positioning a pair of speakers adjacent to each of the wearer's ears. One major problem with this type of prior art headset is the fact that when this headset is worn, the wearer cannot hear anything else since the speakers are positioned adjacent to both ears. Additionally, these prior art headsets are generally uncomfortable, and some of these prior art headsets often become dislodged if the wearer moves his head back and forth. Accordingly, more recent prior art telephone communications headsets have been designed to be worn around a single outer ear of a wearer for positioning a single earphone against either one of the wearer's ears, depending upon which side the headset is configured for wearing. One such prior art telephone communications headset is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,788, issued to Lucey et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,788 discloses an adjustable telephone headset which includes a boom microphone, an earphone speaker, and an ear support constructed and arranged to be adjustable. The adjustable telephone headset is configured with an adjustable ear support portion which is designed to fit around the ear of a user for holding the headset in place and positioning the earphone speaker against the wear's outer ear. The ear support portion includes a fixed curvilinear portion and a hollow adjustable curvilinear member having an engagement portion for engaging a metal shaft of the fixed curvilinear portion. When engaged, the hollow adjustable curvilinear member can rotate about the metal shaft of the fixed curvilinear portion, thereby allowing the ear support to be adjusted. A rotation tab and rotation tab recess limit the degree of rotation about the metal shaft and thus the degree of adjustment available.
A major problem with this adjustable telephone headset is that it may fit poorly around the wearer's ear. The fixed curvilinear portion and the hollow adjustable curvilinear member are both rigid structures and the design only permits adjustment by allowing one rigid member to rotate about a metal shaft of the other rigid member. Accordingly, the ear support may not fit comfortably around the wearer's ear. If the adjustable telephone headset does not fit properly it will fall off if the wearer moves his head. Another problem with this headset is the positioning of the earphone speaker against the wearer's ear. This placement is not ideal and can often cause discomfort as the wearer moves his head and the ear rubs against the earphone speaker.
Accordingly, what is needed is a lightweight over-the-ear headset which is comfortable to wear, is adjustable to enable appropriate positioning over the ear, and is stably positionable against the ear.